BLWeaners - how long before milk feeds reduced?

[mootthing]

DS is nearly 8 months and we've been doing BLW for about 7 weeks. It's slow going. He's interested in chomping on things and his hand-eye co-ordination is getting better, but he's really not actually eating very much yet and so I'm still bfing 4-5 times a day.

I know this is all usual, but when we decided to do BLW I don't think I thought about how long it would be before he was ready to drop any feeds. Most of his puree-eating contemporaries are already drinking a lot less but I can't see that happening for us any time soon.

The thing is, fairly soon I will have to go back to work and he will have to go to nursery, but he has always refused to drink from anything other than me and if he is still relying on bfing for the majority of his nutrition I can't see how I'm going to be able to leave him.

So I'm wondering, what age did other BLWeaners find they were able to drop the odd feed?

I found that, however reluctant she was at home, BLW'd dd happily took a bottle at 8mish at nursery when surrounded by other babies with bottles.

I expressed at work (and found it much easier to express instead of a feed rather than as well as, iyswim) and she had 3 3-4oz bottles a day till 12m, then swithced to cows' milk in a cup.

oh and I meant to say he may well make up for it by reverse cycling, which is knackering but nutritionally very efficient - more here. DD did it a bit in the early days.

Hi moothing

My DD hasn't really dropped any feeds - well maybe her teatime one. She feeds often - sometimes every 2 hours in the day (she is 9.5months). She also won't take a bottle, but she does drink water from a cup at mealtimes.
However I have left her for a whole day, I left milk in a cup. She drank about 50ml! and she had a (very) small solid meal. She just had a massive feed when I returned.
I think your baby will adapt when you aren't there - by either taking milk from a bottle/cup or making up for it in the evening.
Why not have a day out to see how you both cope?

We did the whole BLW with a complete boob-monster... when suddenly at 9mo he just stopped bfing. Tried everything (I have a thread in breast and bottle feeding and one in weaning) and was worried he wasn't getting enough to eat/drink. I don't think your DS will suddenly stop too (my DS is abnormal ), but he may well start reducing down of his own accord.

DS seems fine though and will drink milk from a cup as well as water/dilated juice. He has also started eating a lot more since stopping the bfs. Have you tried using a cup instead of a bottle and introducing water?

I introduced water/very dilated juice from a cup with meals at about 7 months because DS was a bit de-hydrated and at first he was not very keen to have any. Now he'll glup down a bit and then have a pause before another gulp. Perhaps you could try that?

Btw I don't think introducing a cup is what stopped DS bfing. Apparently I was the same age when I stopped too according to DM and I think DS had a throat infection which was the trigger.

dilated juice? That sounds really horrid! Meant diluted juice.

JustAnother - Yes, we have tried offering him water and ebm/formula in various sorts of cup, but he's not interested really. He will put a cup to his lips as he's seen us do, but really he only wants to chew the cup. If any water goes into his mouth he grimaces and spits it out.

IslandIsla - We don't live near our family and I don't have anyone I could leave him with really, apart from DH. I'm pretty sure he would make me come back the minute DS seemed to be missing me. I haven't even managed to go to the allotment without being summoned home to feed!

DS spat out the water at first too. He was much keener on diluted orange juice. He doesn't like anything too cold though so have had cause to add a little bit of boiled water to the juice to make it tepid. We also found it helped if the cup was really full.

He might like to just play with the cup to get used to it - like he did with food?

Apologies if you've already tried all that.

Ah, mootting thats a shame! We also don't have family near so DH looked after DD and I went into London for the day, I was gone about 7 hours. I was nervous about it but coped fine. If you can convince your DH and go far enough that it would take you effort to get back, but not too long that might be a good compromise - DH less willing to call you back, but you'd know you could get back if required! Maybe just an afternoon away. It really might give you more confidence about leaving DS.

I second letting DS play with a cup - DD loves it, whereas she used to scream as soon as she saw a bottle! I think its an independence thing. Have you tried milk in a cup? I did that before water.